My Experience Raising Honeypot Ants 3/9/2020

     Throughout the years I have kept ants, honeypots have been one of my favorite types of ants to raise. Here in California, our native honeypot ants are all of the genus Myrmecocystus. These ants are visually stunning, producing large food-filled workers called repletes. Here are some repletes of one of our native species, Myrmecocystus mexicanus:

 

    Generally, honeypot queens will have a captivity success rate of less than 25%, which make them very hard to keep. In the years I have been raising ants, I have kept five unique species of them, all native to California. In this post, I will describe in detail the methods, tips and tricks I use to raise honeypot ant colonies.

Founding

     The most difficult part of raising honeypot ants is the founding stage. Certain species, such as Myrmecocystus navajo, aren't too temperamental during this stage. However, others, such as Myrmecocystus mexicanus are.

     Honeypot ants do best when kept warm, around 80-90F, and undisturbed during founding. These queens are extremely skittish and will kill their brood if disturbed too frequently. I recommend limiting checkups to once a month if possible, and once every two weeks at the least. The more often they are checked upon, the more likely they are to kill their young and founding will restart. Heat is also essential, and the aforementioned temperature will make sure that they are able to raise their brood successfully. Make sure to provide them with a temperature gradient however, with cooler spots to escape the heat and warmer areas to warm their brood.

     Honeypot ant queens are fully claustral, meaning they don't need food at all during the founding stage until they get workers.There are three kinds of setups that I have had success with in founding honeypot ant queens: Test tubes with substrate, dirt setups, and plaster/hydro stone formicariums (ant-habitats).


     Test tubes are the most common way of raising a queen ant. They comprise of a test tube filled about half way with water, with a wad of cotton pushed so it is about halfway into the water. The water reservoir will provide water and humidity for the ants, and the other half of the test tube is where the ants reside. Once completed, it should look something like this:

     For honeypot ants, I always add a sterile substrate such as fine sand in order to accomplish two things. Firstly, sand mimics the queens' natural setup, and potentially make them more comfortable and productive within captivity. Second, substrate provides Myrmecocystus larvae with a skeletal structure to form their pupae around, which is essential to ensure that brood makes it to the worker stage safely.

     The second way I have successfully raised these queens is in a plaster/hydrostone formicarium. This is the method I use least for these ants however, because of the fact that these setups are expensive and are oftentimes quite large for single queens. However, they do work well when used, provided adequate heat and humidity is provided. My personal favorite formicarium for founding honeypot queens and raising them into small colonies is the Tar Heel Ants mini-hearth, which can be found here.

     The last setup I use for founding honeypot queens is a traditional dirt ant farm setup. This setup is, in my experience, one of the best setups as far as growth and success rates go. Queens will dig their own chambers, assuring that their nest is made to their liking. I have noticed that queens in dirt are less susceptible to stress-eating their brood, and get less stressed during checkups. When using dirt setups, it is important to ensure that the ants are properly watered at all times. Some substrates make it hard to tell hen the substrate is dry and when it is wet, and for this reason anyone using such setups must be diligent with monitoring moisture levels within their setups.

     Unfortunately the commercially available selection for dirt setups is quite small. However, there is an excellent research and development journal which can give readers tips on how to make them, and even some for sale from the owner of the ant keeping forum Formiculture, which is linked here. I personally have used setups from the author of this journal, and have made some on my own. In both cases, honeypot ant colonies in them have been quite successful.

     The biggest downsides to dirt setups are lack of visibility and difficulty maintaining moisture levels. Visibility is often luck of the draw, as some ants will tunnel close to the viewing panel and others will not. Leaving setups in the dark when ants are not being observed can encourage ants to tunnel closer to the viewing panel. Moisture issues can, in my experience, be solved quite easily by monitoring condensation and substrate color, then watering to adjust accordingly.

Colony Housing and Post-Founding Care

     So, you have successfully founded a honeypot ant colony, now what? Well, the good news is that the hardest part is over! Once honeypot queens get their first workers, they should be fed a meal consisting of protein (in the form of insects) and sugar (in the form of sugary liquids) as soon as possible. This is because the queen has most likely depleted most of her energy reserves, and will need food quickly to recover from not eating for so long.

     Honeypot ant colonies generally grow quite quickly if given adequate care. It is important to maintain heat levels during all times, and ensuring that the ants are never too cold or hot, as extremes can halt brood development. That being said, species found in more temperate regions will appreciate some room-temperature 'hibernation' during the winter months. This period can last from 2-4 months depending on the climate in the area that the queen was found. Queens collected in deserts, such as the Mojave in California, will not need hibernation and can be kept warm throughout the year.

     Dirt setups and formicariums will provide adequate housing for colonies for at the very least, a few months after the first workers emerge. Test tube colonies will need to be moved into a setup where the repletes ('honeypots') have space to hang vertically. Dirt setups and most formicariums accomplish this beautifully, and require no movement till further on in colony development.

     Once the colony has saturated the space available to them, they can be moved into an even larger dirt setup or formicarium. At this time, they will probably have numerous repletes, which will need to be moved manually as they oftentimes lose the ability to walk in their inflated state. I personally use Tar Heel Ants' larger type three formicaria , as they have worked well for my honeypot colonies in the past. Honeypot ants will fill up most formicariums within a few years, and some even reach maturity in captivity. This, combined with their unique repletes makes them very rewarding to keep into maturity.

Feeding

     Honeypot ants are known for their large food-storing workers, called repletes. To ensure that the colony creates these repletes, I recommend feeding sugary liquids at least 2-3 times a week. A good way to accomplish this is to provide them with a constant sugar source in the form of a test tube filled with a sugary liquid and plugged with cotton. Frequent or constant availability of sugary substances will allow them to create more repletes and grow at a stronger pace.

     Protein must also be fed frequently with these ants, as their larvae consume insects quite readily. I recommend feeding an amount of insect that the colony can completely break down within 48 hours, at least twice a week. For small colonies, just a cricket leg will often suffice for one feeding. For larger colonies however, one feeding can oftentimes consist of multiple insects.

     Keeping food sources varied will ensure that the colony is content with the nutrients they are getting from their food, and will allow healthy brood development. In terms of sugar, I use hummingbird nectar primarily, and supplement it with the occasional peeled, organic grape or apple. It is important to ensure that no pesticides are present on fresh fruit when being fed to colonies, as their presence can wipe out entire colonies rapidly.

     For protein, I cycle between crickets, meal worms, and flightless fruit flies for their protein source. I have found great success with these colonies when I provide them with a good variety of food.

Final Thoughts

     Honeypot ants are one of the most unique insects found in nature, and are very rewarding to keep. I personally enjoy their coloration and repletes as they are very different from other ant species. I hope you found this guide helpful!